M. APPLETON, 76, EX-ACTRESS

More than 50 years after Martha O'Driscoll Appleton appeared in a Hollywood movie, she still received fan mail weekly.

"Some die-hard film buffs still knew her and would write and ask for her autograph," said her son John Appleton, of Dallas. "She would send it to them."

Mrs. Appleton, who appeared in more than 40 films under her maiden name, Martha O'Driscoll, died of a heart attack at her Indian Creek Village home in Miami-Dade County on Tuesday. She was 76.

While under contract to Universal from 1937 to 1946, the sultry starlet was loaned out to major studios _ among them Paramount, RKO and

MGM

to star in everything from westerns to romantic comedies to horror flicks.

She appeared in movies like Reap the Wild Wind, (1942); the cult classic House of Dracula,(1945); Wagon Train, (1942); and Judge Hardy and Son,(1939). Mrs. Appleton's biggest role was playing Daisy Mae in Li'l Abner, (1940), starring comedian Buster Keaton. During her years in Hollywood, she appeared with such leading men as John Wayne, Ray Milland, Mickey Rooney, William Holden, Robert Preston and Abbott and Costello.

Among her Hollywood friends were Holden and actress Jane Russell, her children said.

Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Mrs. Appleton started in show biz early. She began dancing at age 3, modeling by age 4. At 13, she was dancing in MGM musicals.

In 1947, she gave up her acting career, married Arthur Appleton, moved to Illinois and began raising a family in Northbrook, northwest of Chicago. She became active in charity work. But her children said their mother's Hollywood pedigree always made her stand out among other moms.

"Her movies would play in the afternoon and our friends would see her," said John Appleton, one of her four children. "They all knew our mom had been in the movies."

The Appletons usually wintered in Miami Beach. By 1973, they made South Florida their permanent home and found a new interest in Ocala. In 1978, they built Bridlewood Farm, a nationally-recognized thoroughbred breeding facility in Ocala. One their horses, Skip Away, has earned more than $9 million. On Saturday, Skip Away will race in the Breeders' Cup Classic at Churchill Downs.

The couple also built the Appleton Museum of Art at Florida State University and at Central Florida Community College in Ocala.

Besides her husband and son, Mrs. Appleton is survived by two other sons, James, 50, of Dallas; William, 45, of Hawaii; daughter Linda Potter, 47, of San Diego and brother Paul O'Driscoll, of Los Angeles, two stepchildren and 13 grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held today at 4 p.m. at the Church by the Sea in Bal Harbour, 301 96th St.